Hired to shoot a wedding but not edit??

[Mark Suszko]

Dan, its a little unfair to hold back important background information in the original description of your situation, then complain I didn’t take it into consideration.

[Grinner Hester]

Shame on you for not reading minds, Mark. Dan’s potential cl;ient should have known about the car battery too.
Some people.

[Mark Suszko]

My main point was that the issues he DID tell me about; lacking a second car or a second set of gear – is never a 100 percent deal-killer, by itself. Either of those issues are resolved with a step-rental and passing on the costs to the client. If the client wants more coverage, more *anything*, they of course can expect to pay more.

If I wanted this gig, I would have called up my local rental outfit and got a price on the extra camera and whatever other accessories I needed, called up Enterprise Rent a car for an estimate on a day rental of their lowest-priced putt-putt car, then added those costs to my regular day rate and whatever my second shooter would charge me, (if it’s the wife, maybe nothing, depending on their own internal accounting, but just because she’s married doesn’t automatically mean she’s a “freebie”, Lord knows mine isn’t) and presented that final total for gear, services, and staff plus time to the client.

I would demand the rentals and second shooter be paid for up front, at a minimum, to take the gig, so I never am a deadbeat to my suppliers and crews. This is an important principle to me: pay off everybody I owe before I pay myself, because in this biz word gets around and your reputation is more important than even your cash flow. I probably add on part of my end for the day to the down payment, so I’m getting “something” for sure, for all the trouble I’m going to. The rest I get on completion, and my profit will come out of that end, after expenses.

If they are not willing to pay that kind of money, and make the down payment in advance, you part as friends and no harm done. It just wasn’t a match. You are just not in their bracket and you can’t afford to go lower, or you would lose money. They need to find someone else, or re-assess their needs and come down on some of the requirements, if they want you.

But one shouldn’t just chicken out of a job because it is more than you usually do. If you can afford the extras being built into the bid, it is worth considering taking the job. The next time you get a client pitch like this, maybe you should swing at it.

This much of it is not rocket science. It DOES require having already established in advance a relationship and a credit line with a local rental house or other source for the extras you may need, able to fill an order on short notice. And a relationship with one or two good shooters who’s work you like and who like and respect you and would be willing to be hired by you. With that, you have the tools to take on a wider variety of assignments. And get paid more money for it. That’s business. In fact, that’s management business. As opposed to a hobby. The higher risk and commitment level brings consummate levels of reward.

The stuff about taking the name off the credits, I addressed that already previously.

I am a tad miffed that we didn’t get the entire picture from the OP in the first go, not that this discussion became a waste, – since these issues remain valid subjects for discussion, regardless of the job happening or not – but that it was kind of leading us on when it didn’t have to. I didn’t write all this to put anybody down, and I don’t feel I did. But I can have you speak to my customer service ombudsman, Mr. Zelin….:-) Or my Collections Associate, Mr. Hester:-)

[Thomas Mcintosh]

[grinner hester] “afterall, no dude needs a big wedding… or a wedding at all. It’s a chick thing.”

Your statement is not always true. Maybe it is the usual state of play, but in my case, entirely wrong on both counts!

Don’t forget that there are still some religious communities in which marriage and the wedding day is viewed as very important by both men and women.

[Brent Dunn]

There are always some jobs that I really don’t want to shoot. That being said, sometimes I just overprice it so they’ll go away, or sometimes, I get surprised, and they REALLY NEED my services and pay up.

This happened recently on a travel job. I didn’t want to drive 6 hours and even tried to tell them to hire a local shooter, but they saw my work and they new I had extensive knowledge of the subject matter. Therefore, no matter how much I charged, they were going to pay it. They were happy to receive a quality product and I was happy to finally be paid what I was worth, plus a bonus.

Brent Dunn
Owner / Director / Editor
DunnRight Films
DunnRight Video.com
Video Marketing Toolbox.net

Sony EX-1,
Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 7D
Mac Pro Tower, Quad Core,
with Final Cut Studio

HP i7 Quad laptop
Adobe CS-5 Production Suite